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Call something a stylebook, and you conjure images of fashion photography and models. Add the words Associated Press to it and that gives it an aura of authority, like holy writ.
The AP Stylebook is a journalism referee, explaining what things mean and is embraced across the industry because it wasn’t always insane. It’s supposed to be the news media version of wordsmith Susie Dent, only without all the wit, humor or accuracy. (Dent might call the stylebook mumpsimus, a 16th century term for "someone who insists that they are right, despite clear evidence that they are not.")
The stylebook made itself a laughingstock in recent days, telling the world AP recommends, "avoiding general and often dehumanizing ‘the’ labels such as the poor, the mentally ill, the French, the disabled, the college educated." It offered politically correct responses, sans "the," of course. (Since when was being college-educated dehumanizing? "Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience" is actually a common AP job requirement.)
Twitter cramped the style of AP staff for being the annoying scolds they are. Even Twitter CEO Elon Musk joined the fun and joked, "So then why do call yourself ‘The’ Associated Press?" The mockery of AP went international, with the French Embassy in the U.S. tweeting "I guess this is us now" and sharing an image of it changing its name from "French Embassy U.S." to "Embassy of Frenchness in the US." A nice French kiss off.
INTERNET TROLLS ASSOCIATED PRESS FOR DISCOURAGING USE OF ‘THE'
An image of a keyboard with the Associated Press logo. (Associated Press/Getty Images)
AP posted a surrender tweet and Twitter users were quick to note that France hadn’t won a battle so thoroughly since Napoleon. Even The New York Times reported how, "The French Want to Remain the French."
The wokies at AP never even thought through the implications of their style mandate. Think about how many different entities use "The" as part of their name – other than The AP. Fans of every college football team might think The Ohio State is pretentious, but the Buckeyes wouldn’t be the same without it.
Music is worse. Sure, bands like The Rolling Stones and The Who could survive The-less. But Rage Against Machine sounds silly.
The rap world would be worse off. Is the rapper known as The Game, now just Game? What if he’s not Game for that? Chance the Rapper becomes simply Chance or, since it’s his new name, perhaps, Second Chance.
The AP recently deleted its tweet providing language guidance on using the term "the French." (Chan Long Hei/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
It’s not just rap. How about the poor members of English post-punkers The The? Do they become The? Or just ______? Now, everyone, the band you were waiting for … followed by complete silence. The ultimate in woke cancelation.
AP earned this level of scorn. It turned a wonky book discussing state abbreviations and the Oxford comma into an arbiter of political correctness. The stylebook became living proof of legacy media’s decline from journalism into activism.
TWITTER USERS MOCK NEW LIST OF ‘DEHUMANIZING’ LABELS TO AVOID
This is hardly new. The stylebook long ago took sides in the abortion debate. "Use the modifiers anti-abortion or abortion-rights; don't use pro-life," it declares. Even though pro-lifers are exactly that – pro-life. Not only do they defend the life of the pre-born, but many openly oppose the death penalty as well.
But the leftists at AP want pro-life to look anti-something. While the other side is depicted as pro-abortion rights. Instead of anti-baby or anti-human.
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The stylebook embraced the leftist worldview on gender in 2017. "Not all people fall under one of two categories for sex or gender, according to leading medical organizations, so avoid references to both, either or opposite sexes or genders as a way to encompass all people," it declared.
So, a belief held by the vast majority of the world was simply erased by the wokers and wokettes. (Dang, I used the gender binary for leftist idiots.) They erased the term "mistress" as "archaic and sexist" with equal liberal fervor in 2020. Journalists were instructed to use "companion or lover" which definitely mean something different. AP doesn’t care about accuracy, just lunacy.
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Only last year, the stylebook went even further to embrace the erasure of birth gender by trans activists. It’s only a matter of time before AP erases concepts such as height, weight or age, to appease the woke fundamentalists who fill its ranks.
More style over substance.
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